Posts Tagged ‘Groundwork’
The word is on the street about Streetspeak…
Posted on: September 22nd, 2009
Our second visitor in June 2009, Irfan Master, Manager of Reading the Game, National Literacy Trust, visited a Groundwork session on 19th June 2009.
Irfan watched Craig and young people from Groundwork invent their own poems… here’s one of them:
Pele
I saw Pele
On the telly
He looked really cool to me
He was quick
On the ball
He wasn’t very tall
He was a kid on the street
With no shoes on his feet
Playing football with some bags
Dressed in old torn rags
But he had passion in his heart
He was a living Work of Art
He could fly like a dart
He was a goal scoring machine
The best on the screen
But, Pele, for all your fame
We don’t even know your name!
After watching the Streetspeak session, Irfan said, ‘It was a more informal style of learning, and there was lots of learning going on and for young people that’s the best environment. They will go away with enhanced vocabulary, speaking and listening skills and they’ve been told they’ve done well. It will be a lasting memory. I’d have been quite chuffed to have been picked to take part – that’s a big deal. Poetry is a form of expression, and we can all be poets by default as soon as we can speak.’
More organisations on-board
Posted on: September 18th, 2009
Streetspeak has been growing in popularity since its launch in November 2008, with five organisations and three poets already taking part in Streetspeak sessions.
Neil McAlley, Community Programme Manager for the Football Foundation visited the National Football Museum on 12th June 2009, to see a Streetspeak session with Groundwork.
Young people from Groundwork were guided by poet Craig Bradley on a tour of the PNE ground and changing rooms, then the museum. Craig and Groundwork members put together a few poems based on their experience, including this one:
That’s what football means to me
That’s what football means to me
On the grass scoring one, two, three
Unlock the defence, find the key
Blaze up front, you and me
Pass and move from A to B
Respect the team – PNE
Breezing in the box, sting you like a bee
Saturday afternoon at three
We’ve won the game, home for tea
That’s what football means to me
Stewart Meadwell, Development Officer with Groundwork, accompanied the group and is pleased with the project’s impact on young people: ‘The two sessions so far have exceeded anything I could of hoped for. Craig has thoroughly engaged the group on such a tough subject to do so. I think the session at the football museum worked very well to inspire the group.’
